Home Improvement and Remodeling Tips

Updated on August 22, 2011

Hire the Right Person

Hiring the right person for your projects is the most important decision you can make. Using a professional contractor will ensure that your project is done correctly, within the law, within budget and within deadlines. You should always make sure that the person or company you hire has insurance at work and if possible should always seek references from other clients. This gives you the opportunity to learn about the people that is going to work and their way of doing business.

Communication is Crucial

As the communication between the family is also important to communicate with your contractor. All decisions and changes made to the initial plan should be discussed by the whole family and then communicated to the contractor. It is advisable to arrange weekly meetings with the professional hired so that all details are discussed.

Know Your Rights

Before starting any project, know what your rights are. Do not sign any contract with any professional or business without first knowing exactly what is needed for the job and not knowing what it is that you are responsible.

Any contract should include all construction tasks, a payment plan and a plan of time needed for all tasks. The entire inventory of products and materials should be listed. A contract also requires a list to assign responsibilities to the contractor and any entity sub-contracted by it. Issues relating to warranties, changes in the project and dispute resolution should also be written.

Proposals and Budgets

Any proposal should describe any planned project in detail. If you receive a proposal with a minimal description, you should consider throw it into the trash. On average, for a remodel of a kitchen, there are approximately 25 categories of construction tasks that need to be described. Proposals should include a detailed description for each construction task and a general description of the whole project. These descriptions are the basis for you to get to compare the various proposals you receive. After you decide on a proposal and if this proposal is well thought out, it will be easy for the contractor to give you the budget. If on the other hand, if the proposal is not well drafted, then the budget will always be subjective.

Understand Your Project

Another key to a successful remodeling that is often overlooked is how you will handle the stress that occurs during the course of the remodeling. For example, if the delivery of the mosaic that you chose for the floors in your new kitchen is delayed two weeks, you only have two choices, either wait or change the selected mosaic. How would you cope if the truck's construction team locked up your car in the morning making you late for work?

The best thing for this kind of stress is that you understand your daily routine will be changed with any remodeling. So, educate yourself and your family and prepare to cope with such problems. A good way to learn about what kind of problems you might encounter is talking to your contractor.